Question:
Concerning the hadith ‘the honour of the believer is the night prayer’, what is the elaboration of that?
Answer:
It’s explanation is may Allāh bless you, that the believer is honoured by obedience, and becomes weak by disobedience, and disobedience debases him, and obedience honours him with Allāh and with the righteous folk, and the night prayer is from the most noblest of obedience’s, it enlightens the soul, and the chest broadens by it, you revise the Quran by it, ponder over the book of Allāh by it, his duās get answered if he supplicates to his Lord in the last third of the night, he vexes the Shaytān from the angle that he stands and deserts his bed, how many times did Ibn Ruwāhah say:
يَبِيتُ يُجَافِي جَنْبَهُ عَنْ فِرَاشِهِ إِذَا اسْتَثْقَلَتْ بِالْمُشْرِكِينَ المَضَاجِعُ،
He spent the night with the side (of his body) forsaking his bed, whilst they (side of body) were too heavy for the Mushriks.
And what honour is better than that the people are covered in sleep and your are having private talk with your Lord, you are revising the Book of Allāh, pondering over it, and you reach morning and your hands are filled with good and dhikr and duā, and light is on your face, and happiness, ease and tranquility is in your heart, as is in the hadith,
أصبح طيب النفس نشيطا
“He wake up in a good state and energetic.”
I.e the one who remembers Allāh Az wa Jall, so he stands and makes wudhu and prays, his duās are answered, he said: So if he stands in the night and says:
لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له له الملك وله الحمد وهو على كل شيء قدير، الحمد لله وسبحان الله، ولا اله إلا الله والله أكبر، ولا حول ولا قوة الا بالله
Lā ilāha illa Allāh wahdahu lā sharīk lahu, lahu ul-mulk wa lahul-hamdu wa huwa ala kulli shay’in qadīr, al-hamdu lillāh wa subhān Allāh wa lā ilāha illa Allāh wa Allāhu akbar walā hawla wa lā quwata illa billāh
He said:
أو دَعَا، اسْتُجِيبَ له، فإنْ تَوَضَّأَ وصَلَّى قُبِلَتْ صَلَاتُهُ.
“Or he supplicates, he is answered, and if he makes wudhu and prays his prayer is accepted.” [Hadith Ubādah]
So if he stands and mentions this dhikr whilst standing after the dhikr of waking up:
الحمد لله الذي أحيانا بعد ما أماتنا وإليه النشور
“Praise be to the One who gave us life after having given us death and to Him is the (day) of resurrection.”
Then he makes wudhu and blows his nose three times inside of his wudhu, he stands and prays energetic, and he uses the siwāk, and devotes to his Lord Az wa Jall, that is a blessed time, the conclusion is that being heedless of the likes of that, means wasting yourself, being heedless of the likes of this time is deserting oneself, by Allāh, not taking care of it, some people have low blood levels, and some people have low deen levels, his deen reduces just like his blood, and some people have malnutrition in food and some have malnutrition in their soul, all of us have malnutrition in the soul, and likewise (this) malnutrition he will remain negligent of the night prayer, abandoning reciting the Qurān, maybe he doesn’t revise the Qurān except in Ramadhān, or the likes of this, a little bit before Ramadhān, and the likes of this are many, so the night prayer is a great honour, the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ and his companions had zeal for it whether as a travellers or as a residents, they didn’t leave it, the Prophet ﷺ did not used to leave off witr, he used to perform witr even on his riding beast, he maintained these acts of worship and increased in them, and said
أفلا أكون عبدا شكورا
“Shall I not be a thankful slave.”
And perhaps he would pray and recite and cry, as in the last part of Suratl-‘Imrān, and other than that, and perhaps he would elongate and read Al-Baqarah, then read An-Nisā, then read Āl-‘Imrān, reading a slow recitation not fast, if he came across a verse of tasbīh he would do tasbīh, and if he came across a verse of forgiveness he would seek forgiveness, or a verse of asking, he would ask, and like so, and he would make the rukū’u near to the standing, and the sujūd near to the rukū’u, like so, how much time will this take now? How much time will these chapters take? Five chapters he reads and a bit, the first chapter from Al-Baqarah, the second chapter from Al-Baqarah, and also تلك الرسل and then he enters into Āl-‘Imrān, and لن تنالوا البر and he enters into Āl-‘Imrān and completes it and some of An-Nisā, and محصنات من النساء also and completes it, five chapters the Prophet ﷺ read, he reads with a slow recitation, but by himself not with the people, and in one rak’ah, and Hudhaifah that night was saying perhaps he will do rukū’u after this, perhaps he will do after this, standing praying with the Prophet ﷺ,
Allāh said:
وَمِنَ ٱلَّيْلِ فَتَهَجَّدْ بِهِۦ نَافِلَةً لَّكَ عَسَىٰٓ أَن يَبْعَثَكَ رَبُّكَ مَقَامًا مَّحْمُودًا
“And in some parts of the night (also) offer the Salāt (prayer) with it (i.e. recite the Qurān in the prayer), as an additional prayer (Tahajjud optional prayer Nawafil) for you. It may be that your Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmūda (a station of praise and glory, i.e. the highest degree in Paradise!).” [Al-Isrā, 79]
And on the authority of Abī Hurairah may Allāh be pleased with him he said: “The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
رحِمَ اللَّه رَجُلا قَامَ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ، فصلىَّ وأيْقَظَ امرأَته
“May Allāh have mercy on then man who stands in the night and awakes his wife.”
On the authority of Umm Salamah the mother of the believers may Allāh be pleased with her on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, he said:
سُبحان اللهِ ماذا أُنْزِلَ اللَّيلةَ من الفِتَنِ؟ و ماذا فُتِحَ مِن الخزائنِ؟ أيقِظُوا صَواحبَ الحُجَرِ . فرُبَّ كاسيةٍ في الدُّنيا عاريةٍ في الآخرةِ
“Subhān Allāh! How many afflictions have been descended tonight and how many treasures have been disclosed! Go and wake the female occupants of these rooms (his wives) up (for prayers). For perhaps a well-dressed (soul) in this world may be naked in the Hereafter.”
Meaning to waking up at that time, time and dhikr and duā are from the means of attaining what occurs from voluntary acts and missing out on the obligatory acts and what is of that, so he likes for his family to be awake at that time, ‘who will awake the companions of the bed chambers.
نعم الرجل عبدالله لو كان يصلي من الليل
“What a good man Abdullah (Ibn ‘Umar) is if only he were to pray in the night,”
He is a good man, but if he stood in the night he would increase in virtue, so Abdullāh did not abandon standing in the night, and the likes of this, I say to you may Allāh bless you, we have malnutrition, all of us have malnutrition.
Answered by: Shaykh, the Allamah, the Trustworthy Advisor, Abu Abdirrahman Yahya bin Ali Al-Hajuri – may Allah preserve him
Translated by: Abū ‘Abdillāh ‘Omar bin Yahya Al-‘Akawi
Source: https://t.me/sh_yahia_duroos/7648